1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a connection for HVAC ductwork. This invention specifically relates to a sealing mechanism for HVAC ductwork that reduces air leakage in joints.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditional ductwork has air leakage at the joints. There has been a need to add a gasket material to the joints so that when the ductwork is connected little leakage occurs. However to be able to add a gasketing material during the manufacturing process the gasketing material would have to have the following properties:                1) Good adhesion to sheet metal;        2) Minimal surface tack; and        3) Short curing time.        
There are numerous materials that have two out of the three qualities listed above but it is very difficult to find one having all three. Therefore, adding a gasketing material to the manufacturing process has been impractical. Typically in ductwork manufacturing it would take three seconds to form the longitudinal seam and then roll the sheet metal duct for shipping. As an example of how traditional gasketing materials would make the manufacturing process difficult one could look at adding a sealant that does not set up quickly. The sealant would have good adhesion to galvanized steel and little surface tack but does not set up quickly. It could take two to three hours or two to three days for the gasketing material to set up or cure. This length of time is not practical as either one would have to wait for each individual sheet to cure or you would have to have some type of stacking systems where the sheets are not touching each other. This would make volume manufacturing in a timely fashion impossible. Additionally, if the material sets up quickly but has too much surface tack it will cause problems in the shipping when the ducts are nested together.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,389 entitled a Self Sealing Duct/Fitting Connector describes the problems in the prior art with Conventional HVAC systems. It describes the air leakage at the joints with traditional ductwork. The solution in U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,389 is a special connector for the ductwork with a sealant.
There is need for sealing the connections between ductwork without having a special fitting that is incorporated in the connections manufactured into the duct work.